Floyd Again Promises Toe To Toe Action

Oscar De La Hoya tells us that the Mayweather/Hatton promotion is tracking about 60 percent of what Floyd and Oscar did in their May tussle.

He reminds us that "Super Bowl" showdown did 2.4 million PPV buys.

The suits think this one will hit a million buys.

They sold out the arena in half an hour, Oscar again reminds us, and they've sold 18,000 seats on closed circuit in Las Vegas alone.

That's all well and good, especially if you're receiving a piece of that money pie.

The stockings in the De La Hoya, Schaeffer, Mayweather and Ellerbe households will be overstuffed this holiday season, it sounds like.

But I'm less interested in those stats, sorry to say, and more interested in the type of fight we're going to see Saturday.

I mean, I get curious about figures as the next guy. I live in NY, money is on people's mind, if not 24/7, then pretty close to it. So I fall prey to that mindset.

But in the end, I don't really give a tinker's damn about buy rates, and PPV records, and all that. Those figures aren't going on anyone's headstone.

I care about the quality of the fight.

We are being bombarded now with all these sales figures, as if that's proof enough that the sport is flourishing. I got a braggy email from a licensed ticket broker, what used to be called a scalper before all these governors caved in to lobbysists (cough cough Spitzer!) and legalized ticket scalping. This outfit, OverpricedTix.com, or whatever, was bragging about how many PBF/Hatton tickets they took out of the hands of everyday Joes, and for how many thousands of dollars they are selling them for. I think it's rampant greed, and a symptom of how our society has commoditized everything to a ludicrous degree.

I'm night saying the sport is not flourishing, but remember, George Foreman sells millions and million of his grills, and when I walk the city streets, I see those damned things left out on the sidewalk for the taking on a weekly basis.

So PBF may well be the first fighter to be in back to back fights selling more than a million hits. Again, great for his bank account.

But you think that stat will make it into his obit? Doubtful.

Now, PBF told us last time we'd get plenty of toe to toe with Oscar and that didn't happen. Now, he's on the record again saying he and Hatton will go grill to grill.

"Well you don’t have to worry about that this time," he said, when asked if fans will get plenty of toe to toe for their buck, or more Helio-ing about the ring. "You don’t have to worry about that. Believe me, when I tell you this, you don’t have to worry about that. You won’t get, you won’t get a lot, you’re going to get that from the opening bell."

I do hope so.

Because end of the day, that's what we all care about, us fans. Not buy rates, and PPV records and such.